


A Lost Decade Of You And I

by XtaticPearl



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hopeful Ending, Hurt Bucky Barnes, Hurt Tony Stark, M/M, Self-Sacrificing Tony Stark, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-27
Updated: 2016-08-27
Packaged: 2018-08-11 09:34:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7885903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XtaticPearl/pseuds/XtaticPearl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: You married him instead of me!</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Lost Decade Of You And I

**Author's Note:**

> I went a bit angsty here because I am sometimes Satan’s minion and other times an angel :P :D

 

 

* * *

“I never wanted to hurt you”

Bucky choked out a strangled laugh as he ran his metal hand through his messy hair one more time.

“And yet you managed to do it, so congratulations, I guess,” he bit out before turning around to face the man in a tux.

Tony stood awkwardly in the doorway, both hands in his pockets, eyes meeting Bucky’s for a minute before he looked away.

“Bucky, I -”

“Just tell me why,” Bucky asked, eyes boring into Tony’s when he looked up, “Tell me why you did it. Tell me why you had to - just please, tell me why?”

Tony simply stood silent, jaw working and Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed hard.

“You know what, I can’t do this,” Bucky shook his head and stood up to go out when Tony blocked his path.

“Bucky, please,” Tony said softly, brown eyes shining with bit back tears, “I know I hurt you and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. You can’t forgive me, I know, I know that and I don’t expect you to but please. Please don’t walk away without clearing this up.”

“Why? You did ten years ago, right?” Bucky spat, swallowing back his own furious tears and pushing Tony’s shoulder away from the door, “You walked away from me when I needed you. You walked away from _us_  when you decided to leave me without a single word of explanation. You walked away from everything we had, everything I thought we had, when you made a decision for yourself. Then why shouldn’t I walk away now?!”

“James, I never - I swear I didn’t -”

“You married him instead of me!” Bucky yelled when Tony made a move to touch his arm and shoved the younger man’s hand away, “You married fucking Ezekiel Stane! You married that bastard after everything he put us through.”

Tony remained silent thankfully because Bucky was vibrating with anger and hurt in that moment.

“I was going to propose, y’know?” Bucky laughed bitterly, “Bought a cheap ring with my entire pay check and everything. I thought I’d go down on a knee and ask for your hand for the rest of my life because that’s all I wanted. That’s all I ever wanted. And then I got the phone call. That fucking phone call from your dad inviting me to your wedding reception. A Gala he said.”

Bucky remembered getting anxious for Tony’s safety and rushing to the Mansion, demanding to see him immediately. He remembered fighting tooth and nail with Howard Stark and Obadiah Stane, pushing past them to bound up to Tony’s room and on finding that empty, ripping through the entire place in search of his boyfriend.

Only to find Ezekiel freaking Stane in one of the rooms, lying naked and smirking up at him from under silk sheets. He remembered Stone snidely telling him to leave him and his husband alone.

He remembered pinning the bastard down and pummeling into him only to be stopped when Tony came out from the bathroom, wet hair and a towel around his waist.

Bucky had felt a sense of relief on seeing him and was about to grab him into a hug when his eye caught a gleaming gold band on Tony’s left hand.

Tony hadn’t said a word as Howard’s security had dragged a heartbroken and shell-shocked Bucky out of there.

“Ten years. You come back to this town ten years later and you’re still a bastard out to break my heart,” Bucky shook his head to himself before looking up and staring down a pained looking Tony, “But not anymore. This is not your day. This is my best friend’s wedding day and I’m not going to let you ruin this for anyone. You’re out of my life, Tony Stark, and I’m done with you.”

Without a backward glance, Bucky walked away from the dressing room, intending to get back to his real friends, who wouldn’t shatter his heart.

—–

“It was a beautiful wedding”

Bucky blinked and turned to his side to see a tall redhead sipping on champagne and smiling politely at him.

“Yeah, it was Tasha’s work,” he replied with a nod in Natasha’s direction, watching as she danced with her clumsy boyfriend Bruce, “She’s the best at these.”

The redhead hummed thoughtfully and Bucky could recognize the look of a potential client for Tasha and felt a bit happy for his friend.

“How long have they known each other?” she asked with a soft smile as she gestured to Steve and Sam dancing with each other sappily with the popular wedding glow on them.

“Three years now,” Bucky answered with a small laugh when the redhead’s eyes widened, “yeah, Stevie’s a big old romantic and Sam was love-struck from the minute he met our Captain America.”

“Captain America?” the lady frowned in confusion.

“That’s something he picked up during high-school,” Bucky said vaguely, not willing to into the details of how Clint and Ton - _someone_ had come up with the moniker, “So which side are you on?”

“Oh, I don’t know yet,” the redhead said and Bucky raised an eyebrow making her chuckle, “I came with Rhodey.”

Bucky’s face darkened a bit at that but he couldn’t really begrudge everyone who came with Rhodey, especially since Rhodes was a good guy and a good friend of Sam. Even if he was Tony Stark’s best friend.

“Many people seem to have done that”. Okay, so maybe Bucky couldn’t really be polite all the time. So what?

The redhead didn’t seem fazed and instead simply smirked knowingly.

“What?” Bucky asked with a frown.

“Nothing, just thinking,” she shrugged one shoulder and outstretched a hand, “I’m Virginia Potts.”

“Potts, name sounds familiar,” Bucky shook her hand thoughtfully, “I’m Bucky Barnes. James Barnes but better known as Bucky.”

“In that case, I’m better known as Pepper. Pepper Potts,” she grinned and suddenly it struck Bucky how he recognized the surname.

“You’re the new Stark CEO,” he said a bit bitter and awed.

“That would be me,” she nodded and took her hand back.

“How is it so far? Filling Stark’s shoes?” Bucky wished the ground would split up and swallow him but Pepper simply snorted.

“Well, my feet are bigger than his, so it’s a bit restricting. But we’re working on that,” she said amicably, “Which reminds me, congratulations on the new gym. State of the art, I hear.”

“New gym? What are you -,” Bucky froze and swore, “That son-of-a-bitch! He made you buy me a gym?”

“He is rich on his own, you know?” Pepper sounded amused but Bucky was seething with anger.

“Yeah, rich and an asshole,” he growled, “A selfish and arrogant asshole who thinks he can buy everything.”

“Just be grateful it’s not a rabbit,” Pepper quipped and shook her head when Bucky shot her a confused look, “Anyway, you’re right. Tony bought a gym in your name and yes, he is an asshole.”

Bucky scoffed and downed his drink at that.

“But,” Pepper continued and this time turned to face him completely, looking dead serious, “he’s also the same asshole who got into a forced marriage sham to save his friends from getting ruined.”

Bucky stilled and slowly met Pepper’s eyes.

“What?”

“You heard me,” Pepper said calmly.

“I think…we need to talk somewhere private,” Bucky said carefully, his brain confused and heart racing at the implication.

Pepper nodded and Bucky led her to Steve’s dressing room, catching Natasha’s eyes and giving her a pointed nod to inform that he would be back soon.

“Explain” he said as soon as they got into the room and he shut the door behind him.

“How much do you know about Alexander Pierce?” Pepper asked him instead of answering and Bucky frowned.

“Pierce? He was a number one con who got his due in time,” Bucky shrugged as he remembered his ex-employer who had been involved in huge drug and weapons dealing, along with a few accusations of conspiring with terrorist organizations.

“Alexander Pierce was a whisperer for Hydra,” Pepper smoother her dress and said sharply.

“What? No. Hydra?” Bucky had never believed the terrorist conspiration theories but Hydra was a totally brutal gang in the underground circuits and there were always stories about their threats.

“Yes,” Pepper nodded with a pinched look, “And he used people, his employees, as mediums for their purposes.”

“Ms. Potts what are you -”

“I’m telling you, Mr. Barnes, that Alexander Pierce used you, one Steve Rogers and a Sharon Carter to fulfill three or more major mafia transactions,” Pepper said with a tight look on her face.

Bucky felt his world spinning and sinking when she went on to explain how Pierce had used them to deal in smuggled goods, hidden in the packages they used to deliver for him sometimes.  How he had used Sharon’s access to get her aunt Peggy’s confidential documents that later turned out to be things connected to national security. How he had made Bucky drop Pierce’s car off at one of his friend’s house and that had turned out to be rigged.

The number of charges that could be levied against them was growing with every sentence that came out of Pepper’s mouth.

“Stop! Stop, stop. How do you know all this?” he asked finally.

“I know, Barnes, because it was Tony who managed to get evidence to expose Pierce,” she said quietly, “and because he spent every day of the past ten years keeping this information concealed from the press.”

“What?” Bucky breathed out in shock.

“At first Tony couldn’t get the charges off you by himself. He did’t have that kind of power. So, he had to get help from someone who did,” she explained with a bitter shake of her head, “And in exchange, he had to give away the most valuable thing he had.”

“Howard,” Bucky grit out, suddenly realizing whom Pepper meant by the person who held the power to help, “What did - did Tony - ?”

“The marriage was a sham, Barnes,” Pepper said gently, a sort of pitying look on her face, “Howard placed a condition that he would keep the wolves off you guys if Tony stayed away from you himself. To ensure that he did, Howard made him seal the deal by getting married to his business partner’s son. I don’t know the entire details because I came in a couple of years later, but from what I understand, Tony and Ezekiel left for Malibu and Ezekiel fell out of obsession with Tony, leading him to a Sunset Bain. Tony got out of his dad’s clutches two years later and divorced Stane promptly. They played it off as a divorce due to adultery but – let’s just say that there was no love in the first place for it to be lost.”

“He should have told me,” Bucky said brokenly with a hint of  anger at how stupidly Tony had handled his own life, “He should have told me the truth.”

“I know, and I think he knows too,” Pepper shrugged sadly, “but he’s an idiot who likes to pile all shit onto himself instead of getting help. Like you said, an asshole.”

Bucky laughed hysterically at that and sat down heavily on the couch, letting his head fall onto his hands.

“Ten years,” he whispered, “We wasted ten years of our lives and he – I – God!”

“I didn’t tell you this to make you forgive him and go back into his arms, James,” Pepper said quietly, “God knows, you have every right to be angry. Tony knows that too I guess. But I didn’t want you to hate him without knowing the entire story. That and…I guess I didn’t want him to remain a black spot, not when he’s…I just thought you should know.”

Bucky didn’t say a word but Pepper took the hint and left the room quietly, letting him take the time to process everything.

——–

“You need help”

Tony didn’t need to look up to recognize that voice. He knew Bucky’s voice in his sleep. Struggling to push the pile of chairs off him, he huffed and flopped back.

“It wasn’t my fault this time,” he replied and saw as Bucky came into his line of vision.

“I didn’t mean just for this,” Bucky said but instead of helping, simply stood there and observed the mess.

“Enjoying my misery?” Tony asked lightly, trying to make a joke out of it. Bucky’s eyes flashed with some strange emotion but he didn’t rise to the bait.

“You should really stop assuming things about me,” he said instead.

Tony frowned but Bucky had a remarkable poker face so he let it be and focused on pushing the chairs off him.

“So, I met Pepper,” Bucky said suddenly and Tony jerked.

“Uh…okay?”

“Interesting lady, that one,” Bucky hummed.

“Yes, that she is.”

“Quite blunt too”

Now Tony frowned hard and tried to get a read on Bucky better.

“What did she exactly tell you?”

“Everything,” Bucky said enigmatically and Tony froze, cautiously testing the waters.

“Everything about the company?”

“Everything about you,” Bucky said bluntly, “And Stane. And Pierce.”

Tony uttered a quiet expletive and led his head fall back, closing his eyes.

“Look, before you get on my -”

“Thank you” Bucky cut him short and Tony gaped at him like a fish.

“What?”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m _pissed_  that you did what you did, but for saving Stevie and Sharon and me…thank you,” Bucky said quietly.

“You’re welcome?” Tony answered hesitantly, unsure of what was going on. Bucky nodded and continued standing.

“Okay, this is getting a little too heavy,” Tony grunted after a while, “Can you - I mean, can you pull off a couple of chairs? I can push after that.”

“Sure,” Bucky nodded and made a move to help before stopping, “But what do I get in exchange?”

“In exchange?”

“Yeah, you like doing things in exchange, right?” Bucky said snidely and Tony cringed.

“Right, okay,” he said tiredly and Bucky’s jaw clenched for some reason but he didn’t budge till Tony continued, “Fine, what do you want?”

“You”

“What?” Tony paled but his heart raced.

“I am so _angry_  at you, Tony. I really am. You took away my choice from a decision that ruined both our lives for so long,” Bucky shook his head, “I am mad that I had to stay heartbroken for so long. I am mad that you had to stay that way too. I am mad about so many things that I can’t - I’ll need a long time to get over this. You have to understand that. I can’t just get over ten years of hurt and anger. But -”

Bucky breathed in shakily and his expression softened.

“But, I am done waiting and pining. I am done moping over you, especially when you too - I am done staying away,” he said in a firm tone even as his eyes glistened with tears, “I am mad at you but I still love you and I am done not having what I want. I want you. Mad, broken, stupidly self-sacrificing, ridiculous you.”

“Oh, you shouldn’t” Tony breathed out shakily and Bucky smirked a bit.

“Well, I never did listen to good advice, did I?” he teased before getting serious, “I want you, Tony. But you have to know. You have to know that if you say yes this time, you can’t run away. You can’t drop everything and go. I will drag your ass and tie you to me if I have to because I am done letting you go.”

“I promise, I promise,” Tony said brokenly and Bucky smiled, a broken but beautiful smile that lit up Tony’s world.

“Good. Now, let’s get you some help,” Bucky said and moved to help Tony get up.

When he got up and got dragged into a punishing but desperate kiss, Tony felt like the pain of ten years was worth it.

Like he had finally come back home.

**Author's Note:**

> FEEDBACK PLEASE ❤


End file.
